The Queensland Theatre Company’s Artistic Director speaks about his new team and leading the nation from Brisbane.

Last week, we attempted to organise a meeting of the ten members of Queensland Theatre Company’s new National Artistic Team. This process was a story in itself as we tracked down our artists in Vancouver, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney so they could gather to launch this Australian-first initiative.

These artists are from a deliberately eclectic mix of disciplines including actors, writers, directors, designers, dramaturgs, devisors, programmers and provocateurs. They include: the next Chief in line of a Torres Strait Island; the director of the smash hit feature film The Sapphires; a leading New York literary director who now calls Australia home; the curator responsible for one of the most fertile periods of independent theatre in recent years; three great Brisbane artists who have been carving out careers interstate; one of the most important next-generation voices on race and identity in Australia; and artists who between them have decades worth of commitment to the Brisbane scene. They are, in alphabetical order: Jimi Bani, Wayne Blair, Margi Brown Ash, Marcel Dorney, Christie Evangelisto, Kat Henry, Nakkiah Lui, Annette Madden, Renee Mulder and Lucas Stibbard.